Credit crisis reaches P2P leding sites

Finextra.com is reporting that the UK-based P2P lending site Zopa is pulling out of the US market ten months after entering it. At fault is, not surprisingly the growing global economic crisis. Finextra quotes Zopa CEO Doug Dolton with the following words:

"Due to the extremely difficult consumer credit circumstances in the US, we made the decision to focus our ongoing efforts in the UK, Italy and Japan."

Zopa had claimed that the credit crisis had actually helped the company because of growing demand for non-traditional loans a few days ago. In the end, it coldn't deliver because it had decided to team up with Credit Unions in the US to avoid regulatory problems, and those Credit Unions were affected by the credit crisis like any traditional bank.

Zopa had raised 15 million dollars to conquer the US market. It's sudden pull-out could cast some doubts about other P2P lending operations who will surely be affected by tightening credit markets, a fear of less secure investments and the growing call for stricter regulations.